When Kendra Grant’s team was charged with designing and delivering learning experiences for 90,000 Walmart Canada associates, she knew as a senior learning-and-design director that the landscape of corporate learning needs was constantly changing. “Over time,” says Grant, now the principal of her own L&D practice, “we acknowledged that many of the problems we saw, such as lack of engagement and lack of retention, were a result of the design process and not the fault of the learners.”
Lack of engagement and lack of retention continue to impact training initiatives at many companies. This article outlines several ways to address these realities. This part really stood out to me:
A cultural disconnect.
Leaders can say they value learning, but according to Deloitte, workers actually have less than 1% of their time available for learning. Further, learning can be messy, because it requires that people try new things and make mistakes. If an organization punishes people for those mistakes, as some do, people will shy away from learning.
If your organization is not providing ample opportunities for your workforce to “play in the sandbox” as those in the training business like to call it, now is the time to begin having those conversations.
